Cooking Day

Here at language school, they not only teach us how to speak Kiswahili, but we have cultural lessons too.

Yesterday, we spent the morning in the campsite kitchen learning to cook 12 different traditional Tanzanian dishes. We had a lot of fun! Cooking methods here in Tanzania are a little different than what I'm used to, but both Paul and I really enjoyed being back in the kitchen. (We both LOVE to cook!) Here are some pictures from our day:

The first thing we learned how to do was crack open a coconut (nazi). It took me several whacks with the pestle, but I was able to get the job done. Paul opened his in two or three whacks. Many of the dishes we prepared were made with coconut, so everyone in our class had the chance to to learn the coconut-cracking method.

After we cracked open the coconuts, our teacher, Mosi, showed us how to remove the meat. We used a tool called an mbuzi (which is also the word for goat, believe it or not) to scratch the meat out onto a platter.

We all got to give it a try.

There was a lot of preparation to be done before we cooked. Here some of the teachers and our classmate, Tina, are cutting up vegetables.

Another exciting event of the day was preparing chickens (kuku). In general, when you want to serve chicken here in Tanzania, you have to start with a live bird, and butcher it yourself. That's what we did. Paul was given the job of butchering one of the two chickens we prepared. (I'll spare you the picture of the actual deed.) Then, he plucked it and cut it up.

Another new experience for us was cooking on the stove in the campsite kitchen. It is a stone stove, heated by charcoal. The cook here even bakes cakes (and pretty good ones) over the coals. All of us were definitely taken back by how hot the stove gets. Below is Georgina, the assistant cook, standing in front of it.

Another fun part of the morning was making visheti. Visheti are little fried coconut donuts, covered in a sugar syrup coating. My friend, Ellen, and I got to fry them.

One of my favorite parts of the day was making chapatis. Chapatis are a fried flatbread, sort of like a tortilla. I love eating them, so it was fun to be taught how to make them. My teacher even congratulated me on my nice dough circles.

After we rolled them out, we fried them on a small charcoal stove called a jiko.

We all had a really great day! It really makes me miss having my own kitchen.

Happy Birthday, Anna!

Anna turned 3 today! We weren't able to throw a big party like we have in previous years, but she had a good day nonetheless.

One of her favorite parts of her birthday was eating chocolate birthday cake during chai (Thanks to the mpishi here at Riverside for baking it for us!). And like any other three-year-old, another highlight was playing with her new toys and watching a new DVD that she received.

It's hard to believe that my baby is already 3. But, man, am I grateful to be in the front seat as I watch this amazing child grow up. Does she frustrate me? Yes, at times. But more often than not, she is in the business of amazing me. Anna is determined, confident, and nimble. She is charming, witty, and outgoing.

Praise the Lord for Anna Katherine!

And did I mention that her brother is particularly wonderful as well!

Wikiendi Nzuri!

We simply had a great weekend. After a leisurely breakfast on Saturday, Paul did a little laundry while I trimmed Anna's hair for the first time since we moved to Tanzania. It took me nearly an hour, but after it was all said and done, I think it looks perfectly acceptable. I was pretty proud of myself. It was my first wedge cut! Thankfully, my hairdresser in the States had given me some pointers on trimming Anna's hairstyle before we left.

Paul doing laundry in our banda's bathroom

Trimming Anna's hair on the front porch of our banda

After completing our laundry and hair-trimming duties, our family and a few friends took a 2k hike to a waterfall near the campsite. It was a beautiful, sunny day. Josiah was so excited to be exploring that we nearly had to run to keep up with him.

Anna, on the other hand, felt like she should be carried most of the way. Suffice it to say, I had a good workout.

When hiking in Tanzania, it's always a good idea to watch out for thorns like these. They're everywhere!

When we reached the waterfall, we all had fun climbing around on the huge rocks in the river. It also made for good photo opportunities. All of our running water comes straight from the river via an aqueduct all the way from the waterfall. (Don't worry, we don't drink it.)

Today was a lovely day as well. A group of us traveled into Iringa town to attend a local English-speaking church service. It was wonderful to worship corporately in our own language and to fellowship with other expatriate believers in the area. The fellowship even provides Sunday School for the children, which was a nice treat.

When we returned home, we had lunch and naps before heading down to the TV banda to play games with some of the other campsite residents. Several of us pulled out the dominoes to play Chicken Foot (old-school...yes, but good fun). We even interested some of the younger girls, and taught them how to play. Somehow, I have a feeling that Chicken Foot might become a tradition around here.

I often forget how restful a good weekend can be. This was definitely one of them.

Life in Iringa

It's been absolutely too long since I've posted on my blog, so here's a quick update:

Since I last wrote, we completed our three-week orientation course in Dar es Salaam and traveled inland via local bus line to Riverside Campsite, just outside the town of Iringa. On our trip to Iringa, we drove through Mikumi National Park. Our kids were delighted when we saw a family of elephants, giraffes, gazelles, zebras, and even a baboon. Their excitement was contagious!

We have been here at Riverside Campsite for nearly 3 weeks now and will be staying in Iringa until the end of the year studying Swahili. We are grateful to have be given a little banda (cabin) to live in during our time here. We're all sleeping in the same room like we were in Dar, but here we each have our own beds and we have our own bathroom and study room. That is so nice! We also have one of the best views of the entire campsite (See right). We feel blessed.

Language learning is going well for us. It's amazing how many grammatical structures and how much vocabulary we have learned in just 3 weeks. Today, we put some of our new Swahili ability to good use. Our class took the cook's grocery list and went into town to buy supplies for the campsite at the open-air produce market. We bought things like papai (papaya), tikiti maji (watermelon), mchele (uncooked rice), mkate (bread), pili pili mbuzi (hot peppers), ndizi (bananas) and maharagwe (beans). It felt good to feel confident enough to use Swahili and to be understood as well. (Picture 2: Me with my friends Tena and Ellen after buying our produce.)

Many people have asked how the kids are doing. Thanks so much for your prayers on their behalf. They have adjusted well to life here in Tanzania. While we are in class in the mornings, they play with the children of other students and are watched by a Tanzanian nanny. Our nanny, Nikwisa, is wonderful, and the kids adore her! She is teaching them Swahili greetings, too, which is an added bonus. (Picture 3: Anna and Nikwisa)

Josiah, our nature lover, is in heaven here at Riverside. The camp is nestled in mountains and located next to the Little Ruaha River, so there are tons of new things to explore. He has a collection box full of sticks, leaves, seed pods, and even a bug or two. If you let him, he would explore all day. (Picture 4: Josiah and me with our friend Ellen perched on one of the highest rocks at the campsite.)

Okay, so now I feel better about finally getting something new posted. More later... (hopefully sooner than later). Thanks for reading!

Settling In

It's hard to believe that it has been almost a week since we left the United States! We began our travel to Tanzania on Tuesday evening, July 21. Several of our family and friends came to KCI airport to see us off.

Here I am with Anna, my sister-in-law, Katie, and my niece, Noel.

Me with my sister, Jen (Doesn't she look amazing for just having had a baby a few weeks ago?)

It was also special to have my dear friend, Mandy Buckley, and her family come and see us off. They had loaned us their Dodge Ram truck to use during our last month in the States. The truck was a HUGE help in getting our 12 bags and 7 carry-ons to the airport

It was a difficult goodbye in some ways, but we could also sense our loved ones' excitement about what God has called us to do. This made the goodbyes seem more bearable. As Paul's dad said to him as we said goodbye to him on the phone in Chicago: “We love what you're doing for our Lord!” That encouragement and similar words from others have stayed with us as we've begun our adjustment to Tanzanian culture.

Waiting in London to catch a train to the international terminal for our flight to Tanzania.

Our first views of Tanzania from the airplane.

Tanzanian ladies walking along the side of the road.

We landed in Dar es Salaam on Thursday morning, July 23. We were exhausted after so many hours of flying and very little sleep, but we knew we had to do our best to stay up all day so we could begin acclimating to the new time zone. (Tanzania is 8 hours ahead of the Midwest.) We tried, but the kids and I ended up crashing for a little while.

Thankfully, we had some distractions to keep us awake for a little while. Our friends and future Dodoma neighbors, Jonathan and Rachel, came by with another colleague and had lunch with us at the hotel restaurant. It was nice to have our first meal with people who speak Swahili so we could get the hang of how eating out works around here.

Somehow we made it to bedtime without napping again, and when we turned out the lights, all of us slept hard.

Speaking of hard, that definition can definitely be used for the hotel mattresses. We're thankful to have a room with a bed for us and one for the kids, but the mattresses are about as soft as an American box springs. We have tried to compensate by putting sleeping bags under our sheets and by adding extra pillows, but we still wake up with sore lower backs and hips nearly every morning. We're praying that the beds at language school are softer.

We tried to make our bed a little softer with an air mattress on top, but we eventually took that off and told ourselves we'll just have to acclimate.

We're looking forward to starting our mission's 3-week orientation program tomorrow morning. We have now been in Tanzania for five days, and though it's been nice to have several unstructured days to adjust to the new time and culture, we're looking forward to having a schedule again.

I probably won't be able to post again for a while, since our internet access will likely be limited for the next few weeks, but I did want to post a quick update and a few pictures while I had the chance.

Thanks for your prayers for us and our continued adjustment to life here in Tanzania!

Saying Goodbye

Today, we begin the journey that we've been working toward for nearly 5 years. At 6pm CDT, we'll say our final goodbyes and leave for Africa.

It still feels a little surreal to think that our little family is really getting on that airplane this evening, but our bags are all packed (and hopefully at/under the airline weight limits), most of our to-do list is complete, and we're beginning to feel the excitement building.

I think the kids understand just a bit of what's going on, but they are most excited about using their new backpacks and neck pillows on the airplane to Tanzania.

Oh, but then, there's the goodbyes. I hate goodbyes, but I need them at the same time. I need to have hugged my moms and dads (one of the best things about being married is getting to have more than just one set of parents in your corner), my grandmas and grandpas, my sisters and brothers, my dear friends, and all those other important family members and friends who are such a huge part of my life.

The goodbyes are only for a little while, but I still need them. Closure is important, even if there is email and Skype to keep us connected across the miles.

I'm excited about today and what awaits for us at the other end of our long plane trips, but I know full well that those airport goodbyes this evening will be one of the harder things I've done in my life. I have my Kleenex handy.

How Much is 50 Pounds?

I haven't pondered the answer to this question much until this week. But now I have a pretty good answer for you: It's not much!

50 pounds, the weight limit for airline baggage, is easy to attain when you're trying to fit three years of stuff for a family of four (which includes two growing children) into full-sized footlockers and suitcases. It's unbelievably simple to reach your limit...and FAST!

Our biggest problem: We own heavy stuff and didn't even know it.

Here are some random heavy items in our suitcases:

1. Bottle of shampoo - 2 pounds
2. Children's curriculum books - 8 pounds
3. Batteries - 5 pounds
4. Pressure cooker - 10 pounds
5. Play Dough 4-pack - 1.5 pounds
6. Baby Boy (Anna's beloved life-sized doll...Thank you, Grandma) - 3 pounds
7. Paul's Greek and Hebrew Bible - 3 pounds
8. Children's gummy vitamins - 2 pounds
9. Chaco's sandals (I might just wear these on the plane to save the weight) - 3 pounds
10. D-size Maglight flashlight - 3 pounds

If you add up these 10 items, we're already nearing the 50-pound mark. And we haven't even started talking about clothes. (We sure have a lot of those!)

Suffice it to say, packing has been a process for us, but we're getting it all figured out. Hopefully, we'll get it all right here at my parent's house, so we won't have to be rearranging on the airport floor.

Ready or not, in 4 short days, we'll find out.